Entries tagged with picspam

As I may have mentioned, I've gotten into True Blood lately, which is to say that my girl crush on Michelle Forbes finally beat out my distaste for vampires, and I adore it. It's so wonderfully cracky, bizarre and id-satisfying.

One thing that has been bugging me though. Somewhere between Vampire Bill and Adonis-esq Viking Eric and that series three Werewolf dude that's due to show up with fantastic abs, it seems that my favourite character Sam Merlotte seems to get ignored by fandom and characters within the show alike.

So to rectify this and also to celebrate not only series three starting tomorrow but also me for the first time in ages having a crush on a guy younger than my father, and in the spirit of the show being one great big guilty pleasure, I give you:

I have been so busy lately. I'm hoping to have a weekend in which I can catch up on things and write a bit of fic, maybe do a picspam. The problem with being busy is that it leads to be tired which lead to me doing not much of anything.

Anyway, things that I've been meaning to post about all week:

1. I realised that Vincent and the Doctor is Amy's Companion tries to change history to save a life/lives, just like the Aztecs (Barbara), Father's Day (Rose) and Fires of Pompeii (Donna), except that it was a different take on it as the Doctor for once was in on it (probably knowing they'd have no success) so there was no great debate.

In a bit of drive by episode love, I have to say, as much as I love Vincent and the Aztecs (I quite like Father's Day too), Pompeii I still rate as my favourite, namely because I saw an exhibit on Pompeii earlier this year which included the plaster casts they made of people smothered by ash, and it's harrowing. Plus, Donna is utterly awesome to the point of making the naysayers finally shut up, Catherine Tate shows off why she is one of the best (if not the best) actresses to have played a Companion, and there's bonus Peter Capaldi.

But also, and leading into another thing I'm going to talk about it, my personal fanon is that it's one of the major reasons why Children of Earth happened, as in, in my fanon is that I don't think it's a coincidence that the father of the Frobisher family which did not survive CoE is the spitting image of the father of the family that survived Fires

2. I'm a bit hesitant about the new series of Torchwood that's been announced, for a number of reasons. I loved Children of Earth and was quite happy with it being a series finale, but also with the new series being set partially in America, I suspect that's lessened the chances of having Lois, Alice and Johnson join the team, or that we'll get a day in the life of Bridget Spears episode (okay, there was probably little chance of that happening ever, but it would be awesome - maybe I'll just have to write fic).

3. World Cup! World Cup! World Cup! I'm really into it this year because New Zealand's in it for the first time since the 1982. Oh, I so badly want us to score a goal.

When the All Whites are inevitably knocked out, I'm going to have to go a find some random arbitrary thing with which to use to pick a team to support. Last time I rooted for whichever team came from the country IMO had the best food. I ended up supporting Italy quite a bit.

ETA: Gah. My photobucket account which is entirely used for fandom purposes somehow knows of my facebook page, which is all about RL, or at least my photobucket account is prompting me to 'like' it. 1. How does it know who I am on facebook? 2. Make it stop! I keep my fandom stuff and my life stuff very separate so not cool, internet. Not cool at all.

I watched this movie a few months ago, and it's stuck in my mind for some time, because it is a very memorable movie (as you shall see if you read further) and also because that due to the presence of Mr Peter Capaldi, it has become my crack Malcolm Tucker backstory. And after being inspired by a conversation over at the_thickofit, here I go, picspamming an 1980s movies you all shall probably never watch, but if you read the below, you shall see that his movie really does have to be seen to be believed.

A quick run down before we begin. The Lair of the White Worm is a so-bad-it's-good horror-comedy film from 1988 made by Ken Russell. It took a lot of creative licence with the Bram Stoker novel of the same name. The reason it caught my attention was that it happens to star a young Peter Capaldi and a young Hugh Grant, who are both very hot in this movie. It's completely bizarre in a kind of awesome way (two words: Snake Vampires), and the ending is definitely fantastic.

The film's basically one giant piss-take of the common horror trope that female sexuality=evil, so it of course goes completely over the top with the promiscuous evil doer, the sacrificial virgin and more phallic symbols being wielded around than you can shake a stick at.

Word of warning: this film passes the Jamie McDonald test of movie quality, meaning there will be blood. And also, there will be tits.

I have fallen in love with Skins. This is a big deal because I hate teen dramas. I loathe them with every fibre of my being. Of course, there always have been exceptions, I loved Roswell back in the day (but the sci-fi gave it a pass, and it was written by the guy who later did BSG) and Popular (which was deliberately subversive of the genre), and I watch Glee. But generally, I hate teen dramas.

Really the thought pattern for me even watching Skins was because it hired both Peter Capaldi and Chris Addison (who turns up in the forth series), and I figure any show to hire two actors from The Thick of It couldn't be that bad. By the time the Cat Stevens scene happened, I was in keyboard-mashing love with the show.

It's freaking good guys, and I think the two main reasons: tonally its spot on and the characters are fantastic.

Also there's a couple of musical and dance moments that beat anything Glee has come up with so far (watching Skins has strengthened my disappointment in Glee), the humour is hilarious and deliciously risky and occasionally wonderfully surreal, it's gone one of the of the most bonkers car chases ever, and did I mention Peter Capaldi shows up as Sid's foul-mouthed loser dad (in other awesome casting, Bill Bailey and Mark Heap both show up in the second series).

My only real criticisms are that the second series isn't quite as good as the first (although some of the episodes are as good if not better than the first). And with the almost complete change of cast for the third series has me not really rushing to watch it (I understand it had to be done, but I'm actually taking it worse than a regeneration).

I wanted to contribute to halfamoon and decided I would celebrate Nicola Murray, lead character and Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship in the third series of The Thick of It. I'm not sure how well known it is, but The Thick of It changed last year from a show with a male lead, to a show with a female lead, and really, how often does that happen? That in itself is pretty awesome and that way, she is actually quite ground breaking.

But, really, what I love most about her in terms of being an awesome female character is that she is not the singular and not-so-funny female island of competency in a world of screwed up and hilarious males. No, Nicola is just a screwed up, hilarious and incompetent as all the men in The Thick of It. That sounds contradictory, but the above trope seems to be the norm in comedy these days and I think it's fantastic when women get to be funny.

I wanted to do a big 2009 picspam, but could not decide on a format. Then and idea struck me: since I'm forever lamenting entertainment awards' inability to make the right decision, why not do my picspam in an award sort of format, with the awards categories themselves completely made up and arbitrary so I could just picspam things I liked this year and could find photos of. Good idea, yes?

I'm all nostalgic for Nine at the moment. I think it's because of all the ads for GI Joe on the telly. (Dear Christopher Eccleston, please be in better movies, k? Thanx). So for picspammy's short form challenge I've done the Doctor Who season one launch trailer. The below is not dial-up friendly.

I'm all nostalgic for Nine at the moment. I think it's because of all the ads for GI Joe on the telly. (Dear Christopher Eccleston, please be in better movies. I adore you, but I'm not paying money to see that even though you're in it). So for picspammy's short form challenge I've done the Doctor Who season one launch trailer. The below is not dial-up friendly.

I've been watching The Catherine Tate Show lately. I've caught series one and two. I'd really only seen bits of it on youtube before now. I figured it needed investigating, 1. since half the comments about Catherine Tate I've read seem to start with the sentence "I can't stand The Catherine Tate Show…" (and either finish with the comment of "and she's going to ruin Doctor Who" if it's July 07 or the comment "but she was one of the best things to ever happen to Doctor Who" if it's July 08)

And 2. I am a huge Catherine Tate fangirl. I've seen every movie she's made now except for Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution which I probably will go see in August when it comes out here even with the 4.0 on imdb (Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 80% so it can't be that bad) so it was about time I watched The Catherine Tate Show.

Anyway, I don't understand the hate. It's not the greatest show ever, but then sketch comedies never are, and it is hilarious in places, particularly the Ginger Refuge and Enigmatic Cop, and ever the characters that initially come off as more annoying than funny like Paul and Sam managed to invoke some laughter from me by the end of the second series. Am I the only one who feels really sorry for poor Lauren Cooper? She's just so tragic. (Well, she never gets away with her behaviour and it seems to be rooted in her insecurities.)

In other DW related actor things, I also caught Bright Young Things which has, among others, David Tennant and Fellena Woolgar in it. Watching that I have decided that David Tennant should never ever ever again grow a moustache (just, no) and Fellena Woolgar should be cast in more things. She was the highlight of the movie and just wonderful. Why is she not more famous?

And I found these screencaps forgotten I'd taken. A couple of months ago I rented the first series of Wild West (Dawn French and Catherine Tate are a convenience-more-than-anything-else lesbian couple in an quirky village in Cornwall), and now I give you:

I realized I hadn't done a picspam review in ages, which is probably because it's been a while since I managed to get my hands on some new Classic Who. Here we have Planet of Evil from season thirteen, featuring my favourite duo (oh, I am so unoriginal) the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane.

I’ve been at it again with the Doctor Who screencap reviews because I really enjoy doing them. This time returned to my favourite era of the show, the very early Fourth Doctor. In fact, it’s the first appearance of the Fourth Doctor.

Anyway, in conclusion, I’m not sure why this serial isn’t rated as one of the best. I loved it, though I'm heavily influenced by a line up containing nearly all my favourite characters. And I hope they put out a box set of season 12 sometime soon, because I’m so there.

At the current rate I’m going, it’ll be about 2021 when I finally manage to make it through the entirety of the Classic Series of Doctor Who, but I plod on, because I absolutely love it. And I’ve done another screencap review, this time of 1964’s The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which is very much a cross between Last of the Time Lords and Doomsday.

The bottom line is that it’s a wonderful serial, with Barbara - as always - kicking arse and being awesome, Hartnell on form and a brilliant companion leaving scene that’s even sadder than Doomsday. Plus it’s got slightly rubbish monsters and Daleks, what more could you want from a Classic Who serial? Highly recommended.

jadeddiva tagged me and tracking down pictures turned out to be an incredibly enjoyable use of a couple of hours. Best. Meme. Ever? I think so.

1. List 5 celebrities you would have sex with without even asking questions.2. Put all of them IN ORDER of your lust for them. (5 - 1, 1 is the hottest.)3. Say which movie/show/thing it was that hooked you.4. Supply photos for said people.5. Tag five people!

I’ve been watching Old School Who again, this time going all the way back and watching The Beginning Box set, which is the first four serials of the series ever and features the original Team Tardis - the crotchety first Doctor, his granddaughter the 20th century loving teenager Susan, the cardigan-wearing action man Ian Chesterton and the class act Barbara Wright - and I’ve done another screencap review. Though it shall probably end up as one big discussion of how Barbara Wright it the greatest companion ever. Because she is.